Sky Italy: Fernando Llorente to join Napoli

Fernando Llorente is no longer a Tottenham Hotspur player, but the club never formally announced his departure. That’s because there was still a chance that Spurs could re-sign him on much lower wages on a short term deal if he couldn’t find anywhere else to go.

Well, it looks like Nando may have found his home, in Serie A. According to Sky Italy, Llorente is set to join Napoli on a two-year deal. Llorente, now 34, is considered a back-up plan for Napoli who really wanted Mauro Icardi, but will settle for the Hip of God instead. This is Nando’s second stint in Italy, having played for Juventus from 2013-15.

Llorente has been a polarizing figure during his tenure at Tottenham. He added a lot of European experience and was an important spark for Spurs in the late stages of their Champions League campaign this past spring, but he was used extremely sparingly and not to particularly great effect in the Premier League, usually as a late game substitute and Tall-Guy-In-Box when Spurs were chasing a lead.

That said, I always kind of liked the guy, even when I didn’t always see the point of his being there. I think Spurs can do much better than Nando at this point — Son Heung-Min and Lucas Moura can capably back up Harry Kane, and Troy Parrott is waiting in the wings — but it sure was fun having that gorgeous Basque bastard on our team for a couple of seasons.

We’ll wait to see if Spurs make any kind of official announcement.